North Carolina health officials said GenX was not found in the blood and urine samples taken from 30 people living near Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility. (Source: Pixabay)

October 16, 2018 at 11:45 AM EST - Updated October 16 at 11:51 AM

RALEIGH, NC (WNCN) - North Carolina health officials said GenX was not found in the blood and urine samples taken from 30 people living near Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility.

Those tested rely on well water. Their blood and urine were tested or the presence of GenX and 16 other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also referred to as PFAS, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said.

DHHS said the following information was shared with participants last week:

GenX was not detected in any of the blood and urine samples.

One PFAS was detected in one participant’s urine sample at close to the lowest level able to be detected; otherwise PFAS were not detected in urine samples.

Nine of 17 PFAS tested for were detected in blood samples of at least one of the 30 participants. The other eight were not detected in any of the blood samples. Four PFAS were detected in blood samples from all participants (PFHxS, n-PFOA, Sm-PFOS and n-PFOS).

The median, or midpoint, detection levels of two PFAS (PFHxS and n-PFOS) in blood samples of the 30 participants was higher than the median found in the U.S. population for those PFAS. Most PFAS were either not detected in blood or were detected at levels similar to available U.S. population levels.

DHHS reports the findings "cannot tell people where or how they were exposed to PFAS."

PFAS have been used since the 1950s to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food and other materials.

"It is not yet known what levels of PFAS in the body may be safe or unsafe, and this testing was not meant to determine if GenX or other PFAS are associated with any specific health effects," DHHS said in a release.

Water samples taken from municipal water systems who source from the Cape Fear River downstream from the Fayetteville Works site have been tested for a variety of PFAS, including GenX, PFOS and PFOA, since June 2017.

Levels of those chemicals have tested below the Environmental Protection Agency’s combined lifetime health advisory level for PFOA and PFOS and the DHHS provisional drinking water health goal for GenX.

Gabrielle Williams

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